“I don’t know yet if I’m in it.”
,,Can you tell me about it?“
“The trouble? Sure. The guy I replaced in this job got murdered in Wyoming. A woman got murdered and I think it’s a way of getting at me.”
“Was she close to you?”
“No, I didn’t know her. But I know who did it, and I he did it to challenge me.”
“Are you scared?”
‘.’Yes,“ Jesse said.
”It’s probably why I only have one
“So you’ll be ready?”
‘
“Something like that.”
“Can’t you arrest the man?”
“I can’t prove anything,” Jesse
said.
“Is the man in Wyoming part of this?”
“I don’t know. It’s crazy that a
town like this, where there hasn’t been a killing in fifty years, suddenly has two in a month. It makes you want to think they’re connected.”
“But you don’t see a connection.”
“No. There’s some kind of militia group in town. Not like the National Guard, the other kind, and there’s something funky about them.”
“Do you like the men you work with?”
“I like them, but I don’t know who I can trust.”
“No one.‘?”
“Well, I’m sort of forced to trust one of them. My guess is he’s okay.”
“What about that woman. Weren’t you seeing a
“Abby. She’s mad at me.”
“Have you broken up?”
“I don’t know. The last time I saw her she walked away in a huff.”
“I wouldn’t tell her about this.”
“‘This’ being the stuff
you’re telling me?”
“Yes. She said it meant I didn’t trust
her.”
“Does that mean you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Even though…9,,
“Even though,” Jesse said.
The phone line made phone line noise while both of them remained silent.
“You should come home,” Jenn said after a time.
“I don’t know where home is,
Jenn.”
“Maybe it’s with me.”
“I got too much going on, Jenn. I can’t walk down that road right now.”
“Even if you don’t come home, why not get out of there? I’ve never heard you say you were scared before.”
“I can’t leave it, Jenn. You know when
they hired me, I was drunk? Why would they hire a guy to be police chief who was drank in the interview?”
“I don’t know,” Jenn said.
“Maybe they didn’t know you were drunk.”
